TooSerious

Welcome to the first round review for 2012! Its been a bloody long offseason, but its finally here- the disappointment that is Supercoach.

Seriously, the amount of times Ive heard people asking for a do-over this weekend has been huge.

Guess that happens though when you have 3 tons and an 88 on the bench, while your field consists of such wonders as "17" and "30" and "34".

But, we learn from this and we now have a better idea on how to improve our selections for next week.

So if this was you, and the difference between your heartbreaking 2100, and a mighty 2300 was simple bench selection - then take heart in the fact that a lot of people out their are feeling your pain!

Now, onto the review - it was a magnificent weekend of footy!

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GWS vs Sydney
Result: Sydney by 63, 14.16.100 to 5.7.37

The result was exactly as expected, but the journey to get there differed. The GWS, I thought, looked pretty decent- and for the first half really showed patches that perhaps theyll threaten a few of the lesser teams. Sydney however, isnt one of these lesser teams, and really put the foot down in the third quarter, kicking 5.4 to a single behind.

Of course, they did win the final quarter, a feat which took the Suns 11 tries before they could win their first.

A couple of interesting scores for the Giants though, Ward managed to score 107SC, off 22 possessions at an attrocious 59% Disposal efficiency. Will be interesting to see what happens to that if he can improve on that.

And thats the only higher priced player Ill be looking at from the GWS, cause what we care about is the sheer volume of rookies playing here. Top scoring was Kennedy, who managed a Giants-high 28 possession for a 103SC. Not a bad score at all - unless you had it on your bench! McDonald collected 23 touches for a 99SC, and like Kennedy warmed my bench. Bugg closed out the triumphtant of high-scoring Giants to warm my...

Heres a look ahead to game week 31 as we head into the home straight. Join me over the break..<!--more-->

Everton v WBA

Everton, who would most likely be fighting for a Champions League place every year if they could start a season the way that they finish it, are off the back of an excellent week. Winning 2-0 at Swansea and then 2-0 at Sunderland (FA Cup) - that’s no mean feat. Two clean sheets for Baines (and a goal) &amp; co as well as two goals for new(ish) signing Jelavic has Everton into the FA Cup semis and up to 9th just 2pts behind semi-final opponents Liverpool.

West Brom were comprehensively beaten at home 1-3 last week against a rampant Newcastle. Last time they played Everton at home they didn’t have a shot on target all game.

Villa v Chelsea

Villa were soundly beaten last week at The Emirates and face another difficult game against a rejuvenated Chelsea. During the midweek UCL win at Benfica, Di Matteo followed on from AVB and Fabio Capello this season by dropping Lampard to the bench. He was joined there by Essien, Drogba, Sturridge and Bosingwa.

It would be a surprise to see Kalou and Ferriera start for a second consecutive match though. Villa can take confidence from the fact that they took all 3pts from Stamford Bridge earlier in the season.

* Sadly Stiliyan Petrov will be missing as he was this wk diagnosed with acute leukaemia

QPR v Arsenal

Cisse stupidly got himself sent off for a second time since joining in January when they went down to Sunderland. He’s now suspended for four and will be lucky if Hughes trusts him enough to let him redeem himself for the last four of the season.

Arsenal continue to motor along nicely and are now on a seven game winning streak which has seen daylight open up between them and Spurs. They’re keeping clean-sheets as well as scoring freely and must be hot favourites for the win despite QPR’s desperation for points.

Newcastle v Liverpool

Andy Carroll heads back home to...

Ahh, it's good to have the real footy back, now that all the exhibition matches have been dispensed with. Wasn't last night fun? I thought so. Join us over the break for some ORFFL score updates and your chance to engage in some banters with your direct opponent.



N.B SATURDAY'S SCORES ADDED =D
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But before we get to that, some house keeping.



1) Fez - your team didn't go through. Tried to get in contact with you through various means, to no avail. PM and we'll sort something out.



2) To all - I'm being gentle and understanding this round as it's all very new, and generally, I'm a forgiving kind of guy. However, next round and all others, not so much.



What does this mean? TEAMS MUST BE IN BY SC LOCKOUT EACH WEEK.



If the afore mentioned ORFFL page doesn't work, PM your team before lockout. No calls after the match has started/finished/whatever, that I wanted to change this, but it didn't work.



I repeat, let me know your team, before SC lockout. Or in internet language, PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN.



Otherwise, you'll bear witness to the iron fisting this Hornsy is capable of.











<img alt='' width='480px' src='http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/1811/ppvstlp.jpg[/img];



POOWONG POTOROOS 1099/13 vsTARWIN LOWER PIGS946/13



<img alt='' width='480px' src='http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/4976/mmvsbdb.jpg[/img];



MERTON MEERKATS933/13 vsBONNIE DOON BANDITS 775/10



<img alt='' width='480px' src='http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3609/pbrvswow.jpg[/img];



PURNULULU BUNGLE RANGERS1328/14 vsWOY WOY WIZARDS856/10



<img alt='' width='480px' src='http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/2917/wawavsmbd.jpg[/img]



WARBURTON WANDERERS875/10 vsMOUNT BUGGERY DISAPPOINTMENTS989/13



<img alt='' width='480px' src='http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/5688/hhvsms.jpg[/img];



HUMPTY DOO...

So, we are fast approaching the second partial lockout, 30 minutes to go!

So after pawing through the teams that were announced (No Hodge, Gray or Stevens!), Make a few tweaks, lock in your Tigers, and Blues - grab a beer, and come <a href="http://tooserious.net/live_scores.php?page=gameday&id=10250970&process=live">Join us in the live chat[/url]

...Other than Richmond and Carlton ( and Sydney/GWS obviously ) are over the break...

How good is it? FOOTYS BACK!!!!
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Hawthorn

* B: Brent Guerra, Josh Gibson, Jarrad Boumann
* HB: Grant Birchall, Ryan Schoenmakers, Benjamin Stratton
* C: Isaac Smith, Sam Mitchell, Chance Bateman
* HF: Shaun Burgoyne, Lance Franklin, Cyril Rioli
* F: Luke Breust, David Hale, Jack Gunston
* Foll: Broc McCauley, Brad Sewell, Jordan Lewis
* I/C: Michael Osborne, Brendan Whitecross, Shane Savage, Matt Suckling
* Emg: Xavier Ellis, Jarryd Roughead, Cameron Bruce

Collingwood

* B: Heritier OBrien, Lachlan Keeffe, Heath Shaw
* HB: Alan Toovey, Ben Reid, Tyson Goldsack
* C: Dane Swan, Luke Ball, Martin Clarke
* HF: Dale Thomas, Jackson Paine, Ben Sinclair
* F: Travis Cloke, Chris Dawes, Alex Fasolo
* Foll: Darren Jolly, Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom
* I/C: Luke Rounds, Jarryd Blair, Paul Seedsman, Peter Yagmoor
* Emg: Cameron Wood, Dayne Beams, Tom Young

Melbourne

* B: Joel Macdonald, James Frawley, Clint Bartram
* HB: Rohan Bail, Jared Rivers, Colin Garland
* C: Jack Watts, Jack Grimes, Nathan Jones
* HF: Jack Trengove, Brad Green, Jeremy Howe
* F: Aaron Davey, Mitchell Clark, Stefan Martin
* Foll: Mark Jamar, Brent Moloney, James Magner
* I/C: Matthew Bate, Sam Blease, Jordie McKenzie, Josh Tynan
* Emg: Lynden Dunn, James Sellar, Thomas Couch

* New: Mitchell Clark (Brisbane Lions), Josh Tynan (Gippsland Power), James Magner (Sandringham)

Brisbane Lions

* B: Niall McKeever, Daniel Merrett, Ashley McGrath
* HB: Mitchell Golby, Matt Maguire, Daniel Rich
* C: Tom Rockliff, Jed Adcock, Pearce Hanley
* HF: Jared Polec, Joel Patfull, Todd Banfield
* F: James Polkinghorne, Matthew Leuenberger, Ryan Lester
* Foll: Ben Hudson, Simon Black, Jack Redden
* I/C: Cheynee Stiller, Sam Sheldon, Claye Beams, Rohan Bewick
* Emg: Ryan Harwood, Jesse OBrien, Billy Longer

* New: Ben Hudson (Mt Gravatt (QLD) / Werribee (VIC /...

I am sure that everyone is busily finalising their teams at the moment but consideration needs to be given to our captain’s choice for the weekend. This is especially so because the lockout loophole did not provide any joy last weekend with Mumford and Goodes both having underwhelming games with scores of 95 and 90 respectively. For those who are still able to utilise the loophole, however, Judd’s numbers below are very enticing. So begins our analysis of statistics …
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Thompson v. Gold Coast

Rd 22 2011: 162 SC points, 51 disposals
Rd 8 2011: 136 SC points, 34 disposals

Average is 149 SC points with 43 disposals.

Note: Small sample size but a fantastic record against the Suns. 18 touches in first quarter in Rd 22 led to a big SC score as the Crows ended up winning by more than 10 goals. In good form in the NAB with a 133 in his last pre-season game. Finished last season a little hot and cold with 70, 127, 80, 162, 92, 151 from Round 19 onwards.

Judd v. Richmond

Rd 15 2011: 180 SC points, 31 disposals
Rd 1 2011: 108 SC points, 25 disposals
Rd 20 2010: 146 SC points, 30 disposals
Rd 15 2009: 95 SC points, 29 disposals
Rd 1 2009: 136 SC points, 23 disposals
Rd 1 2008: 102 SC points, 22 disposals
Rd 5 2007: 110 SC points, 21 disposals
Rd 22 2006: 131 SC points, 24 disposals
Rd 3 2006: 119 SC points, 19 disposals
Rd 11 2005: 182 SC points, 23 disposals

Average is 131 SC points with 25 disposals.

Notes: Fantastic consistent high scores against the Tigers despite constantly being tagged. Scored 180 in Round 15 last year whilst being tagged by Grigg. In that game, Carlton thumped Richmond by 103 points. Was tagged by Jackson in the Round 1 clash last year. A quiet pre-season with scores of 34 and 60.

Ablett v. Adelaide

Rd 22 2011: 145 SC points, 39 disposals
Rd 8 2011: 198 SC points, 41 disposals
Rd 16 2010: 76 SC points, 19 disposals
Rd 18 2009: 115 SC points, 21 disposals
Rd 4 2009: 197 SC points, 46...

Supercoach Season Preview 2012 - West Coast

2012 Supercoach Player Ranking Chart

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2012 List Analysis:

Two more teams to go, and here is one of the best 4 from last season, the West Coast Eagles.   They have had a rough few weeks losing two of their better forwards in Le Cras and Nicoski, likely for the season.   Its hard enough for a team like Collingwood to replace two crumbers, but I"m not convinced the Eagles can cover their loss.   The Eagles did well last season with a combination of a brilliant collection of vintage players in near career best form, along with some of the best young talent in the league.

West Coasts claim to finals success could still be there in 2012, and thats mainly because they are the team best placed to exploit the forward press.   They have the best ruck combination in the competition, along with tall forwards (great to kick long to), and midfielders who are great at getting the ball and pushing it forward.   The query is whether the small forwards can get in and put the pressure on.   Youd imagine that a good opportunity awaits Stevens and Weedon.

West Coasts list rating is 43 and they have a depth of 23.   This places them 5th for their best 22, and 4th in terms of depth.   West Coast are at that time in their list development that a premiership is an option.  Hence, they need to ensure this opportunity is not wasted, because players of the class of Cox, Embley, Glass and Kerr are not always going to be able t0 churn out good form.

<img src="http://tooserious.net/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif" alt="" /><img src="http://tooserious.net/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif" alt="" />...

Not long to go now until the for reals lockout kicks in, so join us in the live chat as we catch the teams come out. (well at least he blues v tigers tonight anyways)

Welcome all to the pre-season wrap-up of the Best Buys.

Over the break youll find a summary of the most fantasy-relevant players from each team (in my opinion), excepting Sydney and GWS after covering them last week.
As it is the pre-season the summaries are quite short and there are plenty of them. I have used the official SC scores from NAB rounds 2, 3 and 4 as these were the "full-match" games and provide the best estimation of current form. During the regular season Best Buys will be a lot more focussed, and contain more details on less players. The pre-season edition is designed to give you a wide array of potential players for your team and make selecting a few smokies a little easier. As always the key to the article is in the thumbs, so join me over the break for more.

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After a long off-season I have to say, Im bloody glad to be getting the NAB out of the way and moving onto the real stuff. With the partial lock-out last week we have the chance to re-assess our line-ups and patch up a couple of glaring holes that may have arisen, and should put most teams in good stead for the lock-out proper. This means the thumbs are more important than ever, and gives us a great chance to see what people think are the best ways to shore up our squads. As always if you have a selection dilemma, put it to the vote! Yes-no questions work best for the format and can provide some valuable insight into how the community of TS see your current choices. EG "Pendlebury (thumbs-up)or Ablett (thumbs-down)?" gives people a chance to let you know what they think without having to fully review your squad and is a great help to many. So for any queries about your squad, chuck em below, and see what TS reckons. Good luck all in the upcoming games, and Im looking forward to your company over what promises to be a ripper season.

DEFENCE
ROOKIES
Sam Shaw (ADE) DEF 113k
Sam Shaw is one of two rookie Sams at the Crows, and both seem to be similar...

Supercoach Season Preview 2012 - Western Bulldogs

2012 Supercoach Player Ranking Chart

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<a href="http://tooserious.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/WBulldogs_SC2012.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-5228" src="http://tooserious.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/WBulldogs_SC2012.jpg" alt="" width="479" height="533" />[/url]

2012 List Analysis:

Western Bulldogs went into the 2010 team as the premiership favourites.  They made regular Preliminary Finals.  They were a very respected team.   Unfortunately, they have slipped recently, and its not considered to be any chance at all of premiership success this season, nor are given a realistic chance of making the finals.

Im not sure where they are in the rebuild, but one thing I am certain of is that they will need to get Brian Lake (and another quality tall defender) up and firing.   And a tall forward stepping up will be very important.   Liam Jones, your time is now.

It appears McCartney is going to have a chip and charge game similar to Hawthorn used by their team.  All very well to go slowly into the forward line if you have Roughead, Franklin, Hale and Rioli.   Another thing altogether when you have Giansiracusa as your only premium forward, and his best football is behind him.  Im thinking it will take a few years for the McCartney game style to bed in successfully.

The Bulldogs list rating is 32 and they have a depth of 16.  This places them 14th for their best 22, and 17th in terms of depth.   This means that the pundits placement of the Dogs in the lower half of the ladder is bang on target in relation to the list.   The Dogs with little depth will be needing to blood youngsters.  This offers a likely opportunity for players such as Clay Smith, Zephaniah Skinner, Tory Dickson, and maybe a few others.

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